Mo has written about the large scale, and now I’ll share a bit about the straggling sheep that come to our door each day. Our kids are really learning what it means to ‘need’. Everyday real people come to our door with real needs.
Joseph is a crippled man who came when his Iris food ran out; Ida has polio and came needing money to grind maize; an older lady who attends our local Iris church came asking for salt; another came needing medicine for ringworm; a neighbour came for food to help a bereaved family. All these are long conversations, sometimes through translators, sometimes with signals, always with prayer to discern the real need, and the right response. It is not easy to know. Today, Salani came for lunch. He is Paulo, whom Mo befriended in his first few weeks here. We asked if there was food at his house and he answered ‘no’. They have had only millet to eat for this week. We sent him home with a bag of beans.
The kids who come in to play soccer with our boys are so dirty and often sick. I would love to do more for them and it breaks my heart to send them away without helping some how. There was a tiny little girl at our gate today, looked to be hardly big enough to walk. She had flies all over her face and she was so sad – a sure sign of malnutrition. Pray that I will have the heart of Jesus for his straggling, and often broken sheep, and the creativity to know how to respond.
The ordinary stuff of life includes these visits, laundry by hand, trying to dream up alternatives to beans for our kids, seeing just how much we can bake in our fancy frying pan with a glass lid. So far it has been used to bake bread, cookies, and even a few cakes. This is the season of birthdays in our family so we had to try that out early. I have been trying to figure out what our days should look like. The kids enjoy playing outside in the early morning while it is still cool. However, if I leave them too long, they are hungry and not willing to sit and work. So, we keep trying different possibilities.
Our official schooling doesn’t start until January but we don’t let that stop us. So far, Kalina is my most interested student. The boys are more interested in digging holes, making bricks and climbing trees. They did perk up for a class with Peter on ‘preparing a chicken for the table’. Mo, Patrick and Daniel enjoyed this class very much. I, however, ‘chickened out’. We named the chickens “Swiss” and Chalet”…and ‘Swiss’ turned out to be much chewier than ‘Chalet’. Both were more tender than the guinea fowl we enjoyed as a gift from one of our pastors later that week.
I have been doing a bit of sewing: four aprons for our four cooks at the Bible school. ‘Now I am a real cook,’ was the response of the head cook. They have not been seen apron less since the presentation. I love being at the Bible school to teach every Monday afternoon. I am teaching Bible study, trying to help the pastors dig deeper as they read Scripture. Some cannot read or write, so this is very challenging. At the moment we are enjoying ‘inductive Bible study’. Last week I began my class by reading a verse in Chichewa which they loved. I am enjoying learning Chichewa very much – it is fun to begin to recognize words and phrases. I love this one: ‘Ndikutandizeni’ which means ‘Can I help you?’
Ladies’ Group on Thursday afternoons is a second highlight each week. Women come to worship, pray and receive teaching. They live very hard lives. You can see it in their worn hands and feet and in their faces, but it does not decrease their enthusiasm. Even on the hottest days, we are up dancing and singing, with great joy. As we worship, the women exhort one another to sing with strength.
I am working my way through the Old Testament, telling the stories of women. It has been interesting to see how close Malawian culture is to Biblical culture. They relate to the stories of Sarah and Rebecca better than we Westerners. After teaching, they come for prayer. I am humbled as they ask me to pray while they kneel on the bamboo mats. I pray for wisdom to know how to pray, and pray for all who ask. The children are around us as we meet, and so I pray for them also.
I am learning a lot from being with these women, and as I understand Chichewa better I will learn their stories. I look forward to the day I can teach in Chichewa, worship in Chichewa, pray in Chichewa. That will be an awesome day!
May God bless all of you. Thank you for checking the website and for praying with us. I hope the pictures and our few words are helpful for you. God is so good and we know we are covered in prayer. Thank you. Thank you.
Love,
Jo
